Much of the economic analysis of local governments assumes that local policymakers operate in a competitive environment where cities produce a level of local public sector output that can be considered "efficient". Efficiency can be quantifies as the highest value of local property tax base...

This paper demonstrates that capital markets take surrounding environments in the states into consideration when determining prices on local debt, above and beyond the underlying features of municipal bonds. We empirically show that corruption premium exists in the US municipal bond market....

We examine the changing relationship between unionization and wage inequality in Canada and the United States. Our study is motivated by profound recent changes in the composition of the unionized workforce. Historically, union jobs were concentrated among low-skilled men in private sector...

Swedish census data and tax records reveal an astonishing wage compression; the Swedish skill premium fell by more than 30 percent between 1970 and 1990 while the U.S. skill premium, after an initial decline in the 1970s, rose by 8 - 10 percent. Since then both skill premia have increased by...